Israeli strikes kill 15 in Gaza school housing displaced families, medics say
Israeli strikes
on a school housing displaced families in
northern Gaza
killed 15 Palestinians on Wednesday, local health authorities said, as Israeli forces continued to demolish homes and buildings in Rafah in the south of the enclave.
Medics said two strikes targeted the Karama School in Tuffah, a suburb of Gaza City. Among those killed was a local journalist, Nour Abdu, Palestinian media said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army.
Two Israeli air strikes on another school, housing displaced people in Bureij camp in central Gaza, killed at least 33 people, including women and children, on Tuesday, local health authorities said.
The Israeli military said it struck 'terrorists' operating from a command centre in the compound.
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The strike, which smashed classrooms and destroyed furniture, caused a large crater in the school campus, where the displaced people who had sought shelter there on Wednesday sifted through rubble to look for some of their belongings.
'What happened is an earthquake. The Israeli occupation hit a school housing children. They are children,' said witness Ali Al-Shaqra. He said the school housed 300 families.
'Here is the building; it was razed to the ground. We cannot find the gas cylinder, the flour bag we had, the kilo of rice, or the meal we got from the Tukkiyah (community kitchen). Thank God we are left with the clothes we had on,' Mr Shaqra added.
In Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, near the border with Egypt, residents and Hamas sources said Israeli forces, who have taken control of the city, continued to blow up and demolish houses and buildings.
Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian militant group
Hamas
, said on Wednesday their fighters had detonated a pre-planted minefield targeting an Israeli armoured force east of Khan Younis in the south. They said they inflicted casualties, followed by mortar shelling of the area.
Israel resumed its offensive in March after the collapse of a US-backed ceasefire that had halted fighting for two months. It has since imposed an aid blockade, drawing warnings from the UN that the 2.3 million population faces imminent famine.
Israeli troops have already taken over an area amounting to around a third of Gaza, displacing the population and building watchtowers and surveillance posts on cleared ground the military has described as security zones.
Israeli prime minister
Binyamin Netanyahu
has said he will expand the offensive against Hamas after his security cabinet approved plans that may include seizing the entire Gaza Strip and controlling aid.
But an Israeli defence official said on Monday the operation would not be launched before US president Donald Trump concludes his visit next week to the Middle East, and there was a 'window of opportunity' for a ceasefire and hostage release deal during Mr Trump's visit.
A senior Hamas official said on Wednesday Hamas would not agree to any interim truce in return for a resumption of aid for a few days, and insisted on a full ceasefire deal to end the war.
Basem Naim said Hamas would not accept 'desperate attempts before Trump's visit, through the crime of starvation, the continuation of genocide, and the threat of expanding military action to achieve a partial agreement that returns some (Israeli) prisoners in exchange for a few days of food and drink'.
The war began on October 7th, 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's campaign has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to Hamas-run health authorities, and reduced much of Gaza to ruins.
The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said the death of Nour Abdu on Wednesday raised to 213 the number of Palestinian journalists killed by Israeli fire since the war began. – Reuters
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Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Seized Gaza-bound aid boat with Greta Thunberg on board being towed to Israel
A boat seized by Israel as it tried to break the blockade on Gaza was being towed into an Israeli port after sunset on Monday, with the crew of activists including Greta Thunberg expected to be held there in advance of deportation hearings. The UK-flagged yacht Madleen, operated by the non-profit Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), was seized more than 160km from the Gaza coast by Israeli military personnel enforcing a longstanding blockade of the Palestinian territory that has been tightened during the Israel-Hamas war. The ship was brought to the port of Ashdod in Israel where the crew was to be held ahead of deportation and its symbolic cargo of humanitarian aid seized. Thunberg and the other 11 members of the Madleen crew, including the French MEP Rima Hassan and the Al Jazeera journalist Omar Faiad, have been out of contact since Israeli forces took control of the boat in the early hours of Monday morning. 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'These volunteers are not subject to Israeli jurisdiction and cannot be criminalised for delivering aid or challenging an illegal blockade – their detention is arbitrary, unlawful, and must end immediately.' UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese called for the crew to be released 'immediately'. Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said he had instructed that upon the boat's arrival at Ashdod port, the activists would be shown videos of atrocities committed during the October 7th, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, which triggered the Gaza war . About 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and 250 taken to Gaza, where 55 are still held hostage. Israeli government spokesman David Mencer described the cargo on the Gaza aid boat as 'meagre'. Labelling the ship as a 'selfie yacht', he claimed less than a truck's worth of aid was on board, but said that it would be sent to Gaza. Footage has been circulated of what appeared to be Israeli military personnel handing out sandwiches and water to the activists, who were wearing orange life vests. 'I urge all my friends, family and comrades to put pressure on the Swedish government to release me and the others as soon as possible,' Ms Thunberg said in a pre-recorded message released after the ship was halted. Meanwhile, the Gaza health ministry said Israeli forces and allied local gunmen fired toward a crowd heading to an Israeli and US supported food distribution centre in the Gaza Strip on Monday, killing at least 14 people. The Israeli military, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, recently acknowledged supporting local armed groups opposed to Hamas. Since 2008, multiple flotillas have been launched to challenge the 18-year Gaza blockade which has severely limited Palestinian movement and access to goods. Madleen's sister ship Conscience was attacked by drones in May while sailing in international waters off Malta and forced to abandon its voyage to Gaza. The group blamed Israel for the attack. In a post on X on Monday, the Israeli foreign ministry accused Ms Thunberg and the crew of attempting 'to stage a media provocation whose sole purpose was to gain publicity' rather than deliver food as the ship carried 'less than a single truckload of aid'. The ministry said: 'More than 1,200 aid trucks have entered Gaza from Israel within the past two weeks, and in addition, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation [GHF] has distributed close to 11 million meals directly to civilians in Gaza.' Ship carrying Greta Thunberg: group of activists greets the departure of the Madleen for Gaza from Catania, Italy. Photograph:Source: The UN says 500-600 aid trucks at day are needed to meet the food and medical needs of Gaza's 2.3 million Palestinians. Gaza's government media office reported on Sunday that the toll from Israeli shooting incidents during two weeks of aid deliveries at Israeli-backed GHF sites had risen to 125 dead, 736 injured and nine missing. The GHF has been boycotted by UN and international aid agencies which argue it does not conform to humanitarian principals, and its distribution system is chaotic. The Israeli blockade is set to face another challenge on June 15th when the Global March to Gaza, a movement involving people from approximately 50 countries, plans to gather peacefully at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the enclave. Marchers will call on Israel to end its siege of Gaza and allow the free flow of humanitarian aid. Israel and Egypt have imposed varying degrees of blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from importing arms, while critics say it amounts to collective punishment of Gaza's Palestinian population. Israel sealed Gaza off from all aid in the early days of the war ignited by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7th, 2023, but later relented under US pressure. In early March, shortly before Israel ended a ceasefire with Hamas, the country again blocked all imports, including food, fuel and medicine. – Additional reporting: Guardian
Irish Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Taoiseach 'glad' no violence or injuries as Israel prevents Gaza aid flotilla
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Irish Independent
3 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Killing of Sligo based doctor's brother-in-law and family in Gaza condemned at council meeting
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